Caracas, Apr 19 ABN.- With a vigorous call to the “21 Century Ayacucho,” which represents the battle for socialism and fight against capitalism, the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Hugo Chavez brought to a close the 9 Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America (ALBA).

The meeting took place in Caracas on April 19th and was attended by the Venezuelan people, in the midst of an event that brought to a close the journey of commemorative acts for the Bicentennial since the emancipatory deed that began in Venezuela on April 19th 1810.

Caracas' Teresa Carreño Theater filled up with members of social movements and communal councils from around the country, who attended the meeting on behalf of the People's Power together with the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the presidents Rafael Correa, from Ecuador; Raul Castro, Cuba; Evo Morales, Bolivia; Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua; and Prime Ministers from Antigua and Brabuda, Winston Baldwin; Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves.

Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba also attended the meeting.

The accustomed protocol used in presidential meetings was substituted by the joy of those present, who raised the flags of the ALBA member countries and chanted joyfully in favor of integration.

The Presidents tackled with issues such as defense of the land, climate change, the negative impacts of capitalism, the threat imposed by the US empire to the ALBA countries and the need to consolidate the definitive independence of the peoples of the region.

World climate crisis

One of the main topics of the Summit was the climate crisis that lashes against different countries of the world and which, according to the leaders present in the meeting, owes to the capitalist model and its way of operating.

About the matter, Bolivia's President Evo Morales explained that it has arrived “the time to fight the (capitalist) economic system and model that harms so much life and humanity.”

“Copenhagen proved the world capitalist crisis. Papers from our countries were not approved because of the pressure of the US empire,” Morales explained, and he added that “we have a compromise, our responsibility is not only saving Latin America but taking care of humanity in our earth.”

Similarly, he explained that the flag of fight against capitalism and unbounded industrialization “is the defense of our mother earth” because “all of us are children of our mother earth.”

President Morales severely criticized the capitalist model since it is not possible for this system “t take into account the serious damage it does to humanity in its plan to kidnap mother earth to loot natural resources.”

On the other hand, Cuba's President Raul Castro called the attention about the necessity of raising the consciousness of climate change and the importance of reducing the emissions of agents that contaminate our environment.

Castro affirmed that, according to researches carried out Cuban scientists, by 2050 the planet would start to “send the bill” unless we take the necessary steps because of the ecologic damages being caused.

He warned the denominated “world powers” to raise their consciousness about the situation and understand that are every day more close to the “point of no return” to save Earth.

Needed unity

Similarly, Cuba's President Raul Castro expressed that “declaring several of its member states as illiteracy free territory; training human resources in areas such as health and education; and the clinical genetic researches on disable people; are some of the processes outstanding in our alliance.”

According to him, union is necessary to avoid that powers try to halt the progress in that connection and that media campaigns undertaken against Cuba and other ALBA nations are part of strategies devised to end with processes that seek equality and sovereignty.

President Castro reaffirmed the significance of maintaining the union within the alliance and the region, in order to halt any attack that tries to end with progressive governments.

On the other hand, Ecuador President Rafael Correa explained that it is necessary for the Latin American and Caribbean peoples to continue fighting for a definitive independence in political, economic, cultural, scientific and technological matters.

He reaffirmed that though nations from the Bloc have showed significant progresses towards dignified conditions for their inhabitants, definitive objectives have not been reached.

“We have to continue the efforts to reach a great free, sovereign, equitable and fair homeland,” Correa stated.

Besides, he stressed that the great homeland will be achieved only if we are “united, fighting and succeeding.”

Furthermore, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez stood out with examples the union of member countries. “A total 897,883 disabled people have been attended in six of the countries that make up the ALBA.”

Also, he informed that there have been visited 2,052,931 houses in the mids of actions undertaken by groups of experts. These go house by house in order to know and give integral attention to disabled people, as well as studying their environment.

President Chavez mentioned as well that there have been handed in 15,962 technical aid to Ecuador; 3,899 to Bolivia; and 259,813 to Venezuela.

“We are proving all we can do if we unite and break that capitalist model (...) We are united, representing each other, as Cristina said, recognizing ourselves as different but with shared objectives,” he stated.

Moreover, President Chavez expressed that “ALBA has to continue demanding vigorously the end of the blockade against Cuba and the release of the five Cuban heroes kidnapped by the empire” as a proof of support to the Cuban Revolution.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Winston Baldwin explained that all the member countries are creating a shared path so that Latin American and Caribbean nations can work jointly to change their societies and improve the distribution of their resources, so that these can be at the disposal of the poorest.

Prime Minister from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, explained “I confide in that people from my country and the region will understand that ALBA is the root to get out of underdevelopment (...) It is a cause that cannot be achieved with doubtful people.”

Finally, President Chavez stressed “economic union or death,” explaining this way that this is the path needed to walk through the definitive independence of nations.

By JAMES SUGGETT- VENEZUELANALYSIS.COMMérida, April 16th 2010 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – A new report by the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IAHRC) that includes Venezuela among countries that do not respect human rights, is an example of “political defamation,” according to Venezuelan Ambassador to the Organization of American States, Roy Chaderton.

Chaderton said the IAHRC must be suffering “the insomnia of the unjust” as it attempts to “discredit a democracy that dared to be dissident in the face of the hegemonic powers.”

“I am not talking about an IAHRC where the officials try to support states in overcoming problems in human rights... in an environment of reflection,” said Chaderton. Instead, the IAHRC “bases itself on prejudiced opinions with the purpose of causing political damage,” he said.

Venezuela “can show a face of dignity because of all its advances with relation to human rights,” Chaderton continued, highlighting the halving of poverty, consistently high employment rate, the expanded access to the media for small and independent producers, the dramatic expansion of free public health care, programs of economic assistance to women, and increased community participation in the democratic process, as a result of the “Bolivarian Revolution” led by the current government.

The IAHRC report, based mainly on accounts by Venezuelan opposition media and political groups, highlighted intolerance of political dissent, restrictions on freedom of expression, lack of independence of the judicial branch, and impunity as among the human rights violations suffered in Venezuela.

Following the arrests of a wealthy banker, a judge, and the president of an opposition television news station on charges of fraud, conspiracy to commit a crime, and incitement of panic, respectively, the Venezuelan opposition has filed complaints in the IAHRC, referring to those arrested as “political prisoners.”

The credibility of the IAHRC’s reports on Venezuela was put into question in April 2002, when it recognized the coup regime that installed itself after President Hugo Chavez was kidnapped by military elites in coup that lasted two days.

Venezuela has not allowed IAHRC officials to conduct human rights observations in the country since the 2002 coup, bringing critiques that the government is not cooperating with the OAS’s human rights monitoring.

Chaderton further criticized the report for ignoring severe human rights violations of other OAS member states, particularly the United States, and for maintaining a close political relationship with the Venezuelan opposition. He said the IAHRC’s politicized behavior causes the institution to “lose credibility.”

15 abr. 2010

Caracas, Apr 14 ABN.- The Guerrilla Communication sworn-in last Monday in Venezuela will aim at fighting by means of ideas the campaign of consumerist ideologization maintained by capitalist media outlets.

The statement was said by Venezuela's Minister of Education, Hector Navarro, during the opening of the 3rd Workshop on Education for ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America), in Caracas.

Navarro expressed that the young people who make up the guerrilla communication will be able to counterbalance, by means of newspapers, murals, programs broadcast in community radio and TV, the “powerful media forces opposed to the interests of our country.”

Similarly, he explained that talking about guerrilla media information means talking about the action carried out by young people through the different educational fields, in order to boost the defense of environment, defense from communication attacks, and face the capitalist ideology spread by private national and international media outlets, which is destroying the planet.

In just 47 hours, a coup d’etat ousted President Chavez and a countercoup returned him to power, in an extraordinary showing of the will and determination of a dignified people on a revolutionary path with no return. The mass media played a major role in advancing the coup and spreading false information internationally in order to justify the coup plotters’ actions. CIA documents revealed US government involvement and support to the coup organizersWhen Hugo Chavez was elected President in 1998, the Clinton administration maintained a « wait and see » policy. Venezuela had been a faithful servant to US interests throughout the twentieth century, and despite the rhetoric of revolution spoken by President Chavez, few in Washington believed changed was imminent.But after Chavez followed through on his first and principal campaign promise, to initiate a Constitutional Assembly and redraft the nation’s magna carta, everything began to change.The new Constitution was written and ratified by the people of Venezuela, in an extraordinary demonstration of participatory democracy. Throughout the nation in early 1999, all Venezuelans were invited to aid in the creation of what would become one of the most advanced constitutions in the world in the area of human rights. The draft text of 350 articles, which included a chapter dedicated to indigenous peoples’ rights, along with the rights to housing, healthcare, education, nutrition, work, fair wages, equality, recreation, culture, and a redistribution of the oil industry production and profit, was ratified by national referendum towards the end of 1999 by more than 70% of voters.Elections were immediately convened under the new constitutional structure, and Chavez won again with an even larger majority, around 56%. Once in office in 2000, laws were implemented to guarantee the new rights accorded in the Constitution, and interests were affected. Venezuela assumed the presidency of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), with oil at approximately $7 USD a barrel. Quickly, under Venezuela’s leadership, which sought to benefit oil producing nations and not those supplied, oil rose to more than $25 USD a barrel. Washington was uneasy with these changes, but still was « waiting to see » how far the changes would go.

CHANGES WASHINGTON DISAPPROVED

In 2001, the Bolivarian Revolution proposed by President Chavez began to take form. The oil industry was in the process of being restructured, hydrocarbons laws were passed that would allow for a redistribution of oil profits and Chavez was recuperating an industry – nationalized in 1976 – that was on the path to privatization. An opposition began to grow internally in Venezuela, primarily composed of the economic and political elite that ruled the country throughout the prior 40 years, now unhappy with the real changes taking effect. Aligned with those interests were the owners of Venezuela’s media outlets – television, radio and print, which belonged to the old oligarchy in the country.In early 2001, President Chavez attended the Summit of the Americas meeting in Quebec, Canada. By now, Washington had undergone its own changes and George W. Bush had moved into the White House. President Bush also was present at the meeting in Quebec, and there announced the US plan to expand free trade throughout the Americas – the Free Trade of the Americas Act (FTAA). Hugo Chavez was the only head of state at the summit to oppose Washington’s plan. It was the first showing of his « insubordination » to US agenda.Later that year, after the devastating and tragic attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, Washington began a bombing campaign in Afghanistan. President Chavez publicly declared the bombing of Afghanistan and the killing of innocent women and children as an act of terror. « This is fighting terror with more terror » he declared on national television in October 2001. The declaration produced Washington’s first official response.US Ambassador to Caracas at the time, Donna Hrinak, paid a visit to Chavez in the presidential palace shortly after. During her encounter with the Venezuelan President, she proceeded to read a letter from Washington, demanding Chavez publicly retract his statement about Afghanistan. The Venezuelan head of state declined the request and informed the US Ambassador that Venezuela was now a sovereign state, no longer subordinate to US power.Hrinak was recalled to Washington and a new ambassador was sent to Venezuela, an expert in coup d’etats.

WASHINGTON ORGANIZES THE COUP

As Washington’s concern grew over the changes taken place in Venezuela, and the insubordination of the Venezuelan President, business groups and powerful interests inside Venezuela began to contemplate Chavez’s removal. Those running the state-owned oil company, PDVSA, were adament to defend their positions and control over the company, as well as their mass profits, which instead of being invested in the country were being coveted in the oil executives’ pockets.A US entity, created by US Congress in 1983 and overseen by the State Department, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), began to channel hundreds of thousands of dollars to groups inside Venezuela to help consolidate the opposition movement and make plans for the coup. School of the Americas-trained Venezuelan military officers began to coordinate with their US counterparts to organize Chavez’s ouster. And the US Embassy in Caracas, with the recently arrived Ambassador Charles Shapiro, was helping to put the final touches on the coup d’etat.« The right man for the right time » in Venezuela, said an Embassy cable sent to Washington in December 2001, referring to Pedro Carmona, the head of Venezuela’s Chamber of Commerce, Fedecamaras. Carmona was signaled out as the « president-to-be » after the coup succeeded. That December 2001, oil industry executives led a strike, and called for Chavez’s resignation. Their furor began to grow in early 2002 and by March, the strikes and protests against President Chavez were almost a daily occurrence.The NED quadrupled its funding to Venezuelan groups, such as Fedecamaras and the CTV labor federation, along with a series of NGOs plotting Chavez’s ouster. A State Department cable from the first week of March 2002 claimed « Another piece falls in to place » and applauded the opposition’s efforts to finally create a plan for a transitional government : « With much fanfare, the Venezuelan great and good assembled on March 5 in Caracas’ Esmeralda Auditorium to hear representatives of the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV), the Federation of Business Chambers (Fedecamaras) and the Catholic Church present their ‘Bases for a Democratic Accord’, ten principles on which to guide a transitional goverment ».Soon after, a March 11, 2002 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) top secret brief, partially desclassifed by Jeremy Bigwood and Eva Golinger through investigations using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), revealed a coup plot underway in Venezuela. « The opposition has yet to organize itself into a united front. If the situation further deteriorates and demonstrations become even more violent…the military may move to overthrow him ».Yet another CIA top secret brief from April 6, 2002, just five days before the coup, outlined the detailed plans of how the events would unravell, « Conditions Ripening for Coup Attempt…Dissident military factions, including some disgruntled senior officers and a group of radical junior officers, are stepping up efforts to organize a coup against President Chavez, possibly as early as this month…The level of detail in the reported plans…targets Chavez and 10 other senior officials for arrest…To provoke military action, the plotters may try to exploit unrest stemming from opposition demonstrations slated for later this month… ».

A CORPORATE-MEDIA-MILITARY AFFAIR

National papers in Venezuela headlined on April 10-11, 2002 that the « Final battle will be in Miraflores », the Venezuelan presidential palace, hinting that the media knew the coup was undeway. That April 11, a rally began at the PDVSA headquarters in Eastern Caracas. The rally turned into a march of several hundred thousand people protesting against President Chavez and calling violently for his ouster. Those leading the rally, the presidents of the CTV, Fedecamaras and several high level military officers who had already declared rebellion just a day before, directed the marchers towards the presidential palace, despite not having authorization for the route.Meanwhile, outside the presidential palace, Chavez supporters had gathered to support their President and protect the area from the violent opposition marchers on the way. But before the opposition march even reached the palace or the area near the pro-Chavez rally, shots were fired and blood began to spill in both the pro- and anti-Chavez demonstrations. Snipers had been placed strategically on the buildings in downtown Caracas and had open fired on the people below.Pro-Chavez supporters on the bridge right next to the palace, Puente Llaguno, fired back at the snipers, and the metropolitan police forces, who were firing at them. A Venevision camera crew, positioned near the pro-Chavez rally, took images of the firefight and quickly returned to the studio to edit the material and produce a breaking news story showing the pro-Chavez supporters firing guns with a voice-over stating they were firing on « peaceful opposition protestors ». The images were rapidly reproduced and repeated over and over again on Venezuelan national television to justify calls for Chavez’s removal. The manipulated images were later shown around the world and used to blame President Chavez for the dozens of deaths that occured that April 11, 2002. The truth didn’t come out until after the dust had settled and the coup was defeated. The television crew had been told to take the footage and manipulate it, under direct orders from Gustavo Cisneros, owner of Venevision and a variety of other media conglomerates and companies, and also the wealthiest man in Venezuela.The high military command turned on President Chavez and took him into custody. He was taken to a military base on an island off Venezuela’s coast, where he was either to be assassinated or sent to Cuba. Meanwhile, the « right man for the right time » in Venezuela, Pedro Carmona - designated by Washington, swore himself in as President on April 12, 2002, and proceeded to read a decree dissolving all of Venezuela’s democratic institutions.

COUNTER-COUP AND REVOLUTION

As the Venezuelan people awoke to television networks claiming « Good morning Venezuela, we have a new president » and applauding the violent coup that had occured a day ealier, resistance began to grow. Once the « Carmona Decree » was issued, Venezuelans saw their worst fears coming true – a return to the repressive governments of the past that excluded and mistreated the majority of people in the country. And Chavez was absent, no one knew where he was.Between April 12-13, Venezuelans began pouring into the streets of Caracas, demanding a return of President Chavez and an ouster of the coup leaders. Meanwhile, the Bush administration had already issued a statement recognizing the coup government and calling on other nations to do the same.But the coup resistance grew to millions of people, flooding the areas surrounding the presidential palace, and the presidential guard, still loyal to Chavez, moved to retake the palace. Word of the resistance reached military barracks throughout the country, and one in Maracay, outside of Caracas, acted quickly to locate and rescue Chavez and return him to the presidential palace.By the early morning hours of April 14, Chavez had returned, brought back by the will and power of the Venezuelan people and the loyal armed forces.These events changed Venezuela forever and awoke the consciousness of many who had underestimated the importance and vulnerability of their Revolution.T/ Eva Golinger